Here’s my dilemma. I can’t justify keeping my Cayman. I don’t have a job, but have some cash saved. I’m paying $50 bucks to fill up the car every week, plus increased insurance, registration, and $1000 a year on tires is too much. I was making good money in the mortgage business but that popped and it’s time to move on. Plus I really enjoy just hopping in a car I don’t care about. That piece of trash I had in high school still gives me fond memories.
I’ve had my car listed for two months, priced right where Kelly Blue Book says it should be, and haven’t had even a nibble of interest.
I know that the most rational and logical car to buy is a used Honda Accord. It has everything I’d need plus it will run every day for the next decade. But as much as I am a practical person I feel that I’m too young to be so practical. I’m 27, I live with my girlfriend and a dog. I feel like I have one foot into marriage and then that means that there’s probably a litter of little Jon’s in the future, blah, blah, blah.
So help me out here. I want a fun car, but also know I should be practical. I don’t want a sports car unless it’s bad ass, and I’m willing to spend at most $20,000.
Top Gear is an awesome show. If you haven’t seen it yet, check your cable listings. In Southern California, I get it on the BBC channel.
I wish there was a show like this in the U.S. but it really doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I can watch it.
The show takes 3 blokes that range from small medium to large and puts them in the most usual and unusual cars with an excellent sense of dry British humor. Jeremey Clarkson is the biggest chap and the show’s star. Each episode usually has a main theme, like racing an airplane against a Veyron from Italy to England or a homemade amphibious car challenge. Around that main theme there are smaller stories, like testing driving everything from a Peugeot to a Koenigsegg and F1 Renault.
Celebrities of all shapes and sizes routinely come on the show for a quick interview and a hot lap around the track in an economy car, complete with an onboard camera watching their face. To be honest I only recognize half the celebrities since it’s a British show.
<
When they get their hands on hot cars like an R8 or Gallardo, they do a proper exam on a track and regular roads and the turn the keys over to their anonnymous, “tame” racing drive who does an all out assault on the track. They throw the lap time on a board ranked fast to slow.
<<
The best measure of a true sports car isn’t it’s ¼ mile or knot to 60 time, it’s how fast can it run a racing lap compared to other sports cars and the Top Gear challenge is a consistently good test.
On top of all that, the footage, camera angles and picture quality kick ass. If you want to see what it’s like going balls out in an Atom, this is as close as you’ll get without a helmet on.
There are two negatives. 1) Clarkson doesn’t appreciate Porsches, which is a bunch of bollocks! 2) The show is British and true to the country’s stereotype the arrogance can be obvious at times, but hey who am I to judge. Half my country is fat and drives SUVs that never go off road.
Overall, great show! Two thumbs up. I watch it every week.
I’ve had a subscription since I was 9. No Joke! I’m not even getting paid to write this.
I had Road & Track and Motor Trend subscriptions for a while, but I just never had the time to read them all, so I stuck with CD.
I think other magazines often pick sexier or flashier topics, but the CD material is more reliable and substantial. Basically, I trust them more than the others. No, I don’t care about reading up on a subcompact show down, but the Editorials are good, the content is good, the numbers hold up and the evaluations are consistent.
I know that they’re pushing their website and posting increasing content on it, but the magazines still serves a purpose.
It’s just fun seeing it come in the mail. I flip through the thing whole as soon as I get it, before I even take a leak.
It’s a good feeling to have something to look forward to.
I think this may be the most gay article I’ve written on here to date, but who’s gonna stop me?
So, thank you Car & Driver for giving me something to look forward to and for making my bowel movements more enjoyable for the past 223 months.
